End of The World Garden is an arts project with transdisciplinary aims.

End of The World Garden is a venue for establishing experimental ways of facing the enduring ecological crisis, financial uncertainty and shifting sands of global capitalism.

End of The World Garden is a project combining cultural activity, practical horticulture, and sustainability research in unexpected and innovative ways. It will do this through diverse programmes of public events and courses, academic partnerships, contemporary art commissions, and participatory ecological art practice.

End of The World Garden will engage the local community in international conversations around food production, food security and the changing economic and social significance of the rural.

***

The ‘countryside’ can no longer be seen as an escape, utopia or site of romantic contemplation; it must play a crucial role in conceiving of a future beyond the current crisis. End of The World Garden is an experimental field where conversations and actions will take place amidst contemplation and practical activity.

Based at an established two-acre forest garden site in Cornwall, End of The World Garden developed by the artist Paul Chaney, has gathered a dynamic group of artists, curators, technologists, conservationists, and horticulturalists. Together they will establish a robust platform for the critical exploration of post capitalism, dark ecology and new approaches to site specificity in a rural setting.

The site is also managed for food production. The existing gardens provide the raw materials for onsite catering. Biofuel production and harvesting onsite provides the fuel for cooking. The site has facilities in place for off-grid operation, and is fully autonomous for energy and water. A selection of agricultural buildings will house basic educational spaces and camping facilities, where visitors will be able to engage in a year round programme of activity.

Regardless of the event being attended at End of The World Garden, visitors and contributors are invited to actively engage in seasonal activities under the guidance of experienced horticulturalists, contributing to food preparation and outdoor cooking under the guidance of professional wild chefs. This hands-on approach provides the experiential ground for ongoing transdisciplinary explorations of the project’s themes; inclusivity, learning, and participation are important elements of End of The World Garden.

***

End of The World Garden will begin hosting its first residency programme in 2016. Emerging and established artists will be invited to develop new works and research using End of The World Garden as a base.

End of The World Garden is a centre for new research critically examining scenarios and theory predictions on current ecological and political crises – we plan to publish our research in print, online, through partnerships with national and international cultural institutions.

End of The World Garden visitors will have opportunities to gain insight into the artists’ practices and to participate with artist led activities through workshops, seminars, volunteer days and opening events.

About Us: Paul Chaney has delivered public engagement projects and artistic research across the UK and Europe. He has twenty years experience as a smallholder and horticultural systems designer. Between 2004 and 2012 he led FIELDCLUB – an experimental land based art/agriculture crossover that considered a model of agrarian reform for the UK. More recently he developed Lizard Exit Plan – a detailed speculative schedule enabling Cornwall’s Lizard Peninsula to survive an unspecified apocalyptic event, and has undertaken geo-philosophical research in Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

Bram Thomas Arnold is an artist, a pedestrian and a writer based in Cornwall. Bram previously developed and delivered a place-orientated summer school with Littoral Arts in the Lake District. His interdisciplinary arts practice is concerned with dialogic and ecological approaches to and engagement with place, nature, landscape and language. Bram recently won the Plymouth Contemporary Open Audience Award, and has exhibited his work widely in the UK and abroad. He is currently finishing a practice-based PhD at Falmouth and his research has been published in journals, books and presented at conferences, including Oxford University and the Sorbonné, Paris.

Dominic Bailey is a performance chef specialising in wild cooking. He is manager at CAST Café in Helston (Cornubian Arts and Science Trust) and former manager at The Duke of Cambridge Organic Pub, London and The Gurnard's Head, Cornwall. Dominic trained in the performing arts at Queen Mary’s London, and Goldsmiths.

Field Notes CIC is run by curators Cat Bagg and Rosie Thomson-Glover. Field Notes develop, produce and manage live events, exhibitions and commissions in unusual community locations around Cornwall, with a range of partner organisations from National Trust, English Heritage, Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange and Plymouth Art Centre to artist led organisations, schools and community groups.

Shawn Brown is an energy engineer and design technologist with an MSc in Renewable Energy Engineering and a further MSc in Sustainable Design. In 2010 he won the National Engineering Competition; His project prototyped a road legal, solar-powered recumbent trike and led Shawn to be awarded the position of ‘UK Young Engineer of the Year’. Since then he has continued his work with sustainable technologies; from designing floating wind turbines, to building electric motorcycles and prototyping new forms of sustainable transport. His current work focuses on the development of interactive products to improve the understanding of energy consumption. His other key area of interest is in providing hands-on science and engineering opportunities for young people.